It’s a winning combination.
Yet oddly enough, when it comes to pickling cucumbers, most people choose to make spears, or, leave them whole.
Why is that?
Although you can make pickle chips with any one of the Great Lakes Pickling Pouches (after all, it’s just a shape), one of the biggest reasons is that most pickle chips have a slight sweetness to them that’s perfectly suited to their use.
The Great Lakes Pickling Company’s NEW Granny’s Bread and Butter Pickling Pouch fits that bill perfectly.
Having said that, we’d like you to take a moment to share with you some of our pickle chip prowess.
Pickle Chips 101.
As mentioned, we think our Granny’s Bread and Butter Pickling Pouch is a perfect choice. Let’s start there.
As far as the pickling cucumbers go, choose a medium size and be sure they’re fresh and firm.
Thickness is an important consideration. The standard thickness is a true ¼” or about 5 to 6 mm if you’re metrically inclined.
Now you can certainly cut them with a straight-edge knife but if you’ve already gone to the trouble of making these pickle chips yourself, why not follow through with the authenticity and crinkle-cut them?
There are many different choices you can make to do this and we’ll give you our thoughts. Sort of our GLPC Research Review.
For about $10, you can buy one of these cutters in most large grocery stores or online. They’re serviceable for cutting a few hard carrots or maybe a firm potato but when it comes to soft cucumbers, the blade is too thick and not very sharp.
Added to that, the ergonomic design if a thin, wood grip poised too far above the cutting blade makes it wobble in your hand as you apply pressure. Not our favorite choice.
Next up is a similar device with nearly the same results. Forget about holding it by the handle, typically, anyone grips it very forward of the handle with most of their hand covering the top of the blade itself. If there is one advantage, at least you have a bit more control for a buck or two more.
Our third choice is the first one we can endorse. Being as it is a knife shape, and generally, the blade is less tall, and sharper. As a result, you’ll exert less pressure, and, if you use a similar size Chef knife, you’ll have much more success cutting equal thickness disks as you travel down the cucumber.
You’ll find a knife like this one online, (Amazon) or in a cookware shop for under $15
Lastly, a mandolin is truly your best choice. The blade is generally reversible to a crinkle-cut side and is likely to be your sharpest choice and making uniform thickness a no-brainer. Unlike the other aforementioned choices, for about $50 it has multiple other uses, from shredding cabbage to making French fries.
Just watch your fingers, you’ll need them later for putting your perfect pickle chips in the pouch.
If you do go online, you’ll likely see other “gadgets” out there but our advice is to choose a product that looks sturdy and has more than one use. That way, you’re likely to truly get your money’s worth.
So, you’ve got your Pickle Pouch, you’ve chosen a device to cut them, stuffed the bag, and followed the recipe.
Great.
Pickle chips, due to their shape, have a great deal of surface area to suck up the delicious brine you’ve created.
In addition, pickling cucumbers also have a rather thin skin and a soft interior. So, you can expect your first batch of chips to only take 3 days and will be at their perfect peak within a day or two afterward.
As such, the best time to begin your chips would be early in the week for the upcoming weekend of grilling or barbecue.
